Sunday, September 13, 2009

Moosedrool

Wow...I am starting a blog. And I am in Montana. If I look out my bedroom window right now, I can see mountains. And clouds. We arrived at the University last night and those of us that drove from Chicago were the first ones here. Three other people are coming from home as they just got done with the Summer tour (six months on tour - they are crazy cool!) and then two other people are driving in from Chicago and should get here today. So I am sitting in my lovely graduate apartment living room, drinking coffee and trying to recall all the awesome things that happened on the trip up here.

We were on the road at about 10:30 on Thursday morning. We stopped and had a late lunch on the banks of the Mississippi and ended up staying the night in Blue Earth, Minnesota - home of the Jolly Green Giant! The statue was very cool. We explored the town, looking for dinner and it was at this point that I realized what a city girl I am.

Now, I have always considered myself fairly used to rural - I grew up visiting a rather remote rustic cabin in Maine every summer and going to our family farm out in rural Indiana. But....I was rather shocked when we went into a Jubas (grocery store) in Blue Earth and there were no prepackaged salads. What? That's right, no prepackaged salads. We ended up just snacking for dinner and watching Project Runway in our hotel room.

Minnesota was beautiful - but South Dakota was my favorite state of the trip. First off, I finally feel like I am in on the joke about ridiculous billboards. It really makes the drive so entertaining to see billboards about "10 ft Prairie Dog" and "Prehistoric Indian Village." We also stopped and had breakfast at Wall Drug in Wall, SD which boasted "Free Ice Water" and "5 Cent Coffee" and I can say that they weren't lying. When we first got into SD we stopped at this remote location that had young bison (most of us had never seen a real bison) and inside the connecting store they also had bison jerky. By this point, everyone on the trip knew of my love for jerky. Tyler actually went out to look at the bison while gnawing on his jerky, which I pointed out was a little messed up...The adjoining store was definitely for tourists - but it was from another era. There were old newspaper articles about cowboys and Indians and clippings with pictures of scalped settlers all set against a background of bison pelts postcards and t-shirts with '25 reasons a handgun is better than a Woman." There were also ancient mannequins in little booths that moved and played music when you put a quarter in. We indulged in one called 'Big Sam' and a large black gorilla played the piano while singing. It was fun, if not a bit terrifying.

Besides the jerky, we had bison burgers for lunch. They were Delicious. Maybe better than hamburgers....and a lot leaner. And the rhubarb pie was also stunning. I had another crowning city-girl moment when the waitress asked me what dressing I would like on my salad and I answered, 'Balsamic vinaigrette." She kind of looked at me - trying to ascertain whether I was stupid or just clueless - and said, "We have some oil and vinegar at the salad bar." And that was great. So whenever we stop at a gas station, someone in the caravan will say, "I was gonna see whether they have balsamic vinaigrette here." Haha.

We stayed in the Badlands on the second night in these amazing little cabins that have been around since the 20s. It was breathtaking - I absolutely felt like I was on another planet, if not in another country. I wish I could post some pictures, but I forgot the hookup for my camera and computer - so I will have to wait. We explored some of the landscape and watched the sunset from up on some of the peaks. We spent the evening watching one of my fellow actors do magic - he is amazing - and snacking for dinner. We all turned in very early and got up at 6am so that we could see the sunrise as we drove through the Badlands. It was very foggy, but so dynamic. I kept thinking about dinosaurs as we drove through - it looked so prehistoric. Definitely someplace I plan to come back.

We spent a hot second in Wyoming on the third day and then we were in Montana and the landscape changed dramatically - it is Gorgeous! The driving got real exciting (apparently MT didn't have a speed limit until recently and now it is 75mph) and I am pretty sure that I want to read a book about Lewis and Clark after seeing some of their landmarks. Bill suggested, 'Undaunted Courage.' We arrived in Bozeman around 5pm Mountain time and unpacked, played on the swings, went to the grocery store, realized we were all too fried to grocery shop, and then got dinner at the nearby pizzeria. It was there that I discovered a new beer I really like - Moosedrool. The name alone is admiration-worthy.

I had planned to go to the Bikram studio today, but it is 2.5 miles away (too far to walk, especially after class) and there are only two classes - 9am and 4pm. So it looks like I will be practicing in my room without heat, which sucks, but I can deal. Other than that I plan to work on my lines, do some research, meet the rest of the company and maybe some more exploring. We are gathering for a party tonight but the day is ours.

4 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you seem to be enjoying yourself. i love you descriptions of the rural towns- especially the mannequins! I bet there are some wonderful stories there. Can't wait until you can post some pictures. I love you.

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  2. This is great. Thank you for starting the blog. Enjoy. I look forward to future postings.
    Lynn

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  3. Cool blog. Please give us more!, more!, more!

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